Westeros is officially heading to the big screen.
Warner Bros. has set Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest for a theatrical release on June 1, 2029, marking the first time George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones universe will receive its own feature film made for cinemas.
And they’ve picked one hell of a story to start with.
Forget fighting over who gets to sit on the Iron Throne.
This is the story of the man who created it.
Aegon Targaryen.
Aegon the Conqueror.
Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest Is Coming In 2029
Warner Bros. originally revealed Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest as part of its future theatrical slate at CinemaCon in April.
Now it has a date.
The film is being written by Beau Willimon, whose credits include House of Cards and Andor, with Owen Harris attached to direct.
Harris already has experience in Westeros after directing episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, while his previous work also includes one of our favourite episodes of Black Mirror, “San Junipero.”
But it’s the story they’ve been given that really has us excited.
Aegon’s Conquest will take us approximately 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tell the story that completely reshaped Westeros.
Who Is Aegon The Conqueror?
If you’ve watched Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, you’ve heard the name Targaryen approximately seventeen thousand times.
Aegon I is where the dynasty’s rule over Westeros really begins.
Aegon arrived from Dragonstone alongside his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys Targaryen with one fairly modest ambition:
Conquer Westeros.
And having three enormous dragons certainly helped with the negotiations.
Aegon rode Balerion the Black Dread, while Visenya rode Vhagar and Rhaenys rode Meraxes.
Together they launched the conquest that would eventually bring six of the Seven Kingdoms under Targaryen rule.
The swords of Aegon’s defeated enemies were then used to create one of television’s most recognisable objects.
The Iron Throne.
We’ve spent years watching characters fight, betray, murder and occasionally marry somebody they really shouldn’t in an attempt to sit on that chair.
Now we’re finally going to see how it got there.
Balerion The Black Dread On A Cinema Screen? Yes Please.
We’re not going to pretend otherwise.
This is one of the main reasons we want to see Aegon’s Conquest.
Balerion.
We’ve heard stories about him.
We’ve seen his enormous skull.
We’ve seen just how terrifying Vhagar can be in House of the Dragon.
But we’ve never properly witnessed Balerion the Black Dread at the height of his power.
This dragon was an absolute monster.
Aegon’s conquest includes some of the biggest moments in the history of Westeros, and seeing Balerion unleashed with a proper theatrical budget could be spectacular.
There’s one particular location we’re already thinking about.
Harrenhal.
If you know, you know.
If Warner Bros. wants to convince people that Game of Thrones belongs on the biggest cinema screen possible, that’s certainly one way of doing it.
Why Aegon’s Conquest Makes Sense As A Movie
Game of Thrones has always been television.
And incredible television at that.
But Aegon’s story feels particularly suited to cinema.
This isn’t necessarily a slow political story unfolding over eight seasons.
It’s a conquest.
Armies.
Kings.
Castles.
Dragons.
Entire kingdoms deciding whether to kneel before Aegon or discover exactly how effective medieval stonework is against dragon fire.
Spoiler:
Not very.
There’s still plenty of political material underneath all of that, particularly surrounding Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys, but there’s a natural scale to this story that screams theatrical event.
Give us Westeros on IMAX.
Aegon’s Conquest Could Connect The Entire Targaryen Story
There’s another reason we’re excited about this.
Aegon’s Conquest could become the beginning of the Targaryen story for viewers who only know the television adaptations.
House of the Dragon shows us the dynasty generations later.
Game of Thrones shows us what remains after Robert’s Rebellion almost completely destroys Targaryen rule.
Daenerys then spends much of the original series attempting to reclaim what her ancestors lost.
But Aegon?
He’s the man who built it.
Watching these stories together could eventually create an enormous history of House Targaryen stretching across hundreds of years.
And there’s another important connection.
Aegon’s dream.
House of the Dragon revealed that Aegon believed a terrible winter would eventually threaten Westeros and that a Targaryen needed to unite the realm against it.
The prophecy became known as A Song of Ice and Fire.
That gives the filmmakers an opportunity to connect Aegon’s Conquest directly to the events we’ve already watched in Game of Thrones.
Suddenly this isn’t simply a story about somebody conquering kingdoms because he fancied a nicer chair.
There’s potentially something much bigger driving him.
Who Will Play Aegon, Visenya And Rhaenys?
This is now the massive question.
At the time of writing, Warner Bros. hasn’t announced the main cast.
Whoever takes the role of Aegon has a fairly enormous task ahead of them.
But we’d argue Visenya and Rhaenys are equally important.
The three Targaryens have completely different personalities and relationships, and getting that dynamic right could be what separates Aegon’s Conquest from simply becoming two hours of dragons burning castles.
Although…
We would also watch two hours of dragons burning castles.
We’re not complicated people.
Game Of Thrones Belongs On The Big Screen
It’s actually surprising that it’s taken this long.
Game of Thrones became one of the biggest television franchises ever made.
House of the Dragon proved audiences were still interested in Westeros.
And now Warner Bros. is finally taking the franchise into cinemas.
If you’re going to make the first theatrical Game of Thrones movie, Aegon’s Conquest feels like exactly the right story.
Three Targaryens.
Three legendary dragons.
Seven Kingdoms.
And one Iron Throne waiting to be created.
June 2029 suddenly feels very far away.
Who would you cast as Aegon the Conqueror? And more importantly, are you ready to finally see Balerion the Black Dread unleashed on the big screen? Let us know.
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